Kmart Pharmacists Counsel Patients on Daily Foot Care
Kmart Pharmacists Counsel Patients on Daily Foot Care
Positive results in the first year of the Lower Extremity Amputation Prevention (LEAP) pilot project has led Kmart Pharmacy to make the program a permanent part of its clinical care services. Since collaborating with the Diabetes Coalition Initiative -- including APhA and the Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Primary Health Care -- last year, Kmart pharmacists have distributed 100,000 monofilament tests and provided counseling on proper foot care through pharmacies and at health fairs around the country.
The coalition is evaluating the data from Kmart's first year, which ended in October, to ascertain the program's impact and discuss plans for a national program for interested pharmacists and corporations.
Personal Instruction
Pharmacist counseling is an integral part of the LEAP Program. Practitioners educate patients on the use of a filament to screen for loss of protective sensation in the feet, which is one of the three major complications of diabetes. Patients then perform a self-test in their homes and record the date and test results. Subsequent interactions include technique reinforcement and additional recommendations for daily preventive foot care. Information-sharing with a physician is also encouraged by the pharmacist.
Milissa Rock, Kmart clinical coordinator of pharmacy, has represented the company at all six health fairs this year. Rock and her pharmacist-colleagues have counseled about 20,000 patients with diabetes at these events and have also distributed the kits there.
"Many of the patients have never heard of the project, let alone had the test done," Rock said. "It raises public awareness. This is something they can do on their own."
Rock said this project is in the top handful of programs that Kmart has developed in the past few years as part of its clinical game plan. Community outreach and office practices in 150 pharmacies throughout the country are the other initiatives.
"We will continue to use the LEAP program as a patient education tool to support general standards of care for diabetes," Rock said. "This will provide the profession with another opportunity to take its place as a health care provider on the patient care team."
Positive Responses From the Field
A survey conducted by Kmart at the midpoint of the program revealed pharmacists' enthusiasm as well as problems with distribution.
Data show that two-thirds of the pharmacists are willing to participate in a continuation of the program, and a majority of the patients had a positive response to receiving the filaments. However, having to assemble their own test kits set back some of the participating pharmacists. To rectify the situation, Kmart took one more step to facilitate pharmacist involvement. Distribution was streamlined so that assembled kits, ready to be handed to patients, were delivered to the pharmacy.
APhA is reviewing these results and the positive outcomes reported by Kmart.
"This is an excellent example of how pharmacists' regular contact with chronically ill people can be used to extend the reach of preventive care services," said APhA Senior Vice President of Professional and Public Affairs Lucinda Maine, PhD. "It is exciting to see the government and the corporate sector identify the potential of the nation's pharmacists."
The pilot project was supported by a grant from Roche Diagnostics.
Positive results in the first year of the Lower Extremity Amputation Prevention (LEAP) pilot project has led Kmart Pharmacy to make the program a permanent part of its clinical care services. Since collaborating with the Diabetes Coalition Initiative -- including APhA and the Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Primary Health Care -- last year, Kmart pharmacists have distributed 100,000 monofilament tests and provided counseling on proper foot care through pharmacies and at health fairs around the country.
The coalition is evaluating the data from Kmart's first year, which ended in October, to ascertain the program's impact and discuss plans for a national program for interested pharmacists and corporations.
Personal Instruction
Pharmacist counseling is an integral part of the LEAP Program. Practitioners educate patients on the use of a filament to screen for loss of protective sensation in the feet, which is one of the three major complications of diabetes. Patients then perform a self-test in their homes and record the date and test results. Subsequent interactions include technique reinforcement and additional recommendations for daily preventive foot care. Information-sharing with a physician is also encouraged by the pharmacist.
Milissa Rock, Kmart clinical coordinator of pharmacy, has represented the company at all six health fairs this year. Rock and her pharmacist-colleagues have counseled about 20,000 patients with diabetes at these events and have also distributed the kits there.
"Many of the patients have never heard of the project, let alone had the test done," Rock said. "It raises public awareness. This is something they can do on their own."
Rock said this project is in the top handful of programs that Kmart has developed in the past few years as part of its clinical game plan. Community outreach and office practices in 150 pharmacies throughout the country are the other initiatives.
"We will continue to use the LEAP program as a patient education tool to support general standards of care for diabetes," Rock said. "This will provide the profession with another opportunity to take its place as a health care provider on the patient care team."
Positive Responses From the Field
A survey conducted by Kmart at the midpoint of the program revealed pharmacists' enthusiasm as well as problems with distribution.
Data show that two-thirds of the pharmacists are willing to participate in a continuation of the program, and a majority of the patients had a positive response to receiving the filaments. However, having to assemble their own test kits set back some of the participating pharmacists. To rectify the situation, Kmart took one more step to facilitate pharmacist involvement. Distribution was streamlined so that assembled kits, ready to be handed to patients, were delivered to the pharmacy.
APhA is reviewing these results and the positive outcomes reported by Kmart.
"This is an excellent example of how pharmacists' regular contact with chronically ill people can be used to extend the reach of preventive care services," said APhA Senior Vice President of Professional and Public Affairs Lucinda Maine, PhD. "It is exciting to see the government and the corporate sector identify the potential of the nation's pharmacists."
The pilot project was supported by a grant from Roche Diagnostics.